Santa Fe architect Jamie Blosser’s focus on how design influences resiliency made her acutely aware of how Native American communities are rarely involved in the critical decisions that affect them. During her Rose Fellowship in 2000, she used a community engagement process with Ohkay Owingeh in New Mexico that incorporated traditional storytelling to create a housing project modeled on the tribe’s architectural and cultural heritage. Since that time her built work, research and advocacy in collaboration with 18 tribes throughout the western US has helped to remove barriers to self-determination and sovereignty and garnered many awards, including the 2013 HUD Secretary’s Opportunity and Empowerment Award.

In 2009 Blosser founded the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative, an initiative of Enterprise Community Partners, and helped to develop a rural pathway for the Enterprise Green Communities 2011 Criteria, making green-building tools accessible to tribes. SNCC’s Case Studies 2013, featuring 17 exemplary tribal housing projects, was showcased in DC at the National Museum of the American Indian, and has highlighted an exciting paradigm shift in tribal housing returning to place-based, self-determined, and culturally resilient design.

Blosser will use the Fellowship year to develop a cohesive framework for her practice through research on sustainable community development models and resilient planning principles in other marginalized communities around the world.